An Education
by moderndayportia
Summary: Sakura Haruno is the fresh-faced and eager new student teacher at Konoha Junior High School. Kakashi is the lazy yet enigmatic senior teacher in charge of her. Oh my, does he have a lot to teach her... [KakaSaku] Will be rated M in later chapters.


Sakura closed her umbrella and shook the rain from her hair. The typhoon poured down in sheets one step down from the refuge of the school's front door. The umbrella hadn't been able to keep the skirt of her simple, black business suit dry even though the trek from the station to school was quite short. Her wet tresses dripped down onto her jacket and white, button-front shirt.

Sakura glanced down to make sure the water wasn't making her shirt transparent and revealing her lacy pink bra, which on second thought, hadn't been a good idea and was going to make her feel self-conscious for the rest of the day.

The entrance to the school was empty and dark, but when she leaned slightly in, she could see a light glowing through the frosted glass window of the teacher's room further down the hall.

"Excuse me for the intrusion," she whispered under her breath as she stepped into the genkan and slipped her umbrella into the busy rack. She retrieved a pair of plastic slippers from a small shelf, and left her tall wellies, toes-pointing out, waiting for her return.

Shuffling down the hall, Sakura took deep breaths, steeling herself for the formality that would come next. She nervously tucked a wet lock of hair behind her ear, then shakily slid the door open.

"Excuse me for intruding. I am Haruno Sakura from Hinokuni University, here to begin my student internship. Pleased to meet you."

The room was long and crammed with groups of desks piled with papers and books and cans of coffee and other teaching staples. Bookshelves filled with papers and filing cabinets filled with books leaned against shabby pea soup walls. An ancient TV hung from the ceiling above her head. The overall impression was one of disorder and age. And yet Sakura felt completely excited by the possibilities of it.

A man with his head buried in a accounting ledger at a desk near the door quickly stood up when she entered and greeted her with a disarming smile.

"Kotetsu. Administrative assistant. We've been expecting you. Pleased to meet you." He bowed formally and Sakura returned it stiffly. "If you'll follow me, Haruno-san, I'll introduce you to the Vice-principal."

"Oh, please don't let me bother you. I'm sure you're very busy."

"If you're sure?" he seemed relieved.

"Of course," Sakura smiled genuinely. "Sorry for distracting you."

"No, not at all," Kotetsu reassured and returned to his frantic calculations.

At the far end of the chaos, holding a position of prominence and facing down the long room, were three desks. One would be the head teacher's, another the discipline teacher's, and the last one the Vice-principal's. Sakura shuffled down the center aisle between gray, ancient wheeled chairs. A few teachers watched her curiously while others looked up and simply nodded politely at her before turning their attention back to their preparations. Some ignored her presence completely. At a desk by the back window, a handsome man in a track suit slept while leaning back precariously in his chair, mouth gaping open.

Sakura did her best to look both confident and demure while trying to walk without tripping in her slippers and figure out who the Vice-principal was. Two of the head desks were currently occupied, the one to the left, nearest the windows, and the one to the right, nearest the closed door to the principal's office. The center one stood empty, though it was piled deep with books and empty cans of coffee. Amongst the mess on all three desks, Sakura couldn't make out a placard or name tag that would identify who sat there. Worse yet, the two desks occupants seemed to be completely unaware of her presence.

On the right, near the door, sat a man who looked to be in his early thirties. On his desk was an old laptop which he was fiercely clicking away at. Despite his tense and stressed movements and an unfortunate scar running across the bridge of his nose, Sakura could tell he had a kind face.

On the left, near the window, sat this man's complete opposite. As if in negative, a lazy-looking man with an allergy mask and strikingly unruly grey hair was leaning back in his chair with his feet crossed at the ankles and propped on top of his closed laptop. One hand rested behind his head and the other held up a book wearing an orange paper book cover. The kind of book cover they offer you at the bookstore for manga or novels or anything you, as an upstanding citizen, would be embarrassed to let people see you reading on the subway. Sakura was struck by the man's authoritative laziness. This, the disregard for decency of reading material, and the grayness of his hair, led her to determine that this man was surely the vice-principal.

She stepped in front of her desk and bowed low. "Mr. Vice-principal, excuse me for interrupting. I am Haruno Sakura from Hinokuni University, here to begin my teaching internship. It is an honor to meet you. Please take good care of me."

Sakura peeked up from her bow to see that the man had neither risen from his seat, as was custom, nor closed his book, but was watching her with shallow amusement over the binding.

""Yo," he said, then focused once again on his book, and turned the page.

"Um..." Sakura was baffled. This is most definitely not the reception she had been expecting. "Sir?" she asked uncertainly.

"Hm?" The man hummed and read on.

"I'm the new student teacher... From Hinokuni... Here to start..."

Sakura glanced over to the other head desk to discover the kind-looking man staring at his lazy coworker with mouth-agape befuddlement. Well, it was reassuring to know that she wasn't the only one shocked by the lack of manners.

The kind man met her eyes, smiled nervously, and shrugged apologetically. It looked as if he was about to apologize, but just then, the door behind him flew open with a bang and a scream, and out tumbled a woman with short hair. Her dark, surprised eyes locked on Sakura for a brief second, before she threw herself down towards the ground. Sakura instantly understood why when a thick, bound book burst like a bullet from the office the woman had just escaped, sailed through the air, and crashed onto the desk of the handsome sleeping man near the back window. The man shot up with a jolt, then tumbled from his chair onto the floor, bringing a nearby pile of books and binders down on him in a messy crash.

"GENMA, YOU ARE NOT PAID TO SLEEP, GOD DAMMIT. IRUKA, YOU HAVE 10 MINUTES TO GET ME THOSE PAPERS. AND KAKASHI! KAKASHI! GET YOUR LAZY ASS IN HERE. NOW!" a woman's voice bellowed from the principal's office.

Sakura was frozen in horror, staring at the open door. The kind man squeaked and started furiously tapping at his computer again, having quickly forgotten about Sakura. Behind Sakura, the silver-haired man stood up slowly, stretched his long spine with a sigh, then slinked nonchalantly towards the principal's office with his face, as always, buried in his book. He stepped over the woman still sheltering on the ground in front of the door and said down to her, "Vice-principal, the new student teacher's here," before closing the door behind him.

The woman quickly hopped up to her feet, and looked at Sakura with embarrassment as she brushed her skirt straight and adjusted her hair.

"Oh, the student teacher from Hinokuni? Haruno Sakura, was it? Welcome to Konoha Junior High School. I'm the Vice-Prinicpal. Please just call me Shizune. As you heard our principal favors a more relaxed tone. Please do your very best."

Sakura gulped, but returned Shizune's formal bow. What the hell kind of place was this?


End file.
